Hothachar
Hey everyone!
It's been very long since I did a WIP and thought it would be about time. I'm not sure what will become of this thread exactly and it may well end up more like a workshop kind of thread than anything an actual WIP thread.
So here's what's going on. I'm reworking my Hothachar map almost entirely. The reason for this is that I'm going to create a set of three maps that I'll hang in my living room with red as the main colour. The first one will be a map of the entire world (Hothachar), the second a smaller map of one the kingdoms from that world and the last map will be a city map of the capital of that kingdom.
I'm keeping only some of the elements that I liked and scrapping everything else. I didn't like how the world consisted of 5 similar sized continents and the whole layout didn't make a lot of sense to me. The old map was also drawn in a equirectangular projection that didn't translate well to a globe (or any other projection really...) at all. I've tried a couple of times to change the coastlines near the poles to make them look better when projected on a globe, without any success.
So last week I decided to start over from scratch and only keep the parts that I wanted to or already had some background written down. So I used a mixture of map generators, my perviously created maps, and some of my own ideas to get this new map of Hothachar:
Hothachar Base Map Small.jpg
As you can see, there's not much left of the old Hothachar. I think the world looks a lot more organic in general, and this time it looks great when projected onto a globe!
I was playing around with maptoglobe.com and G.Projector to see how the world looks in different projections and from different angles. As I was doing that I figured I could overlay some crude textures to get an idea of what the world would actually look like and that quickly got out of hand. The result is a complete satellite map of Hothachar:
Hothachar Satellite Map Small.jpg ezgif.com-optimize.gif
I figure I'll be making changes to this map in the future, but for now I'm actually very happy with how this turned out.
The next step is to make a hand drawn version of this map, most likely in another projection. I'm thinking Miller Cylindrical or Tobler Cylindrical to fit a poster size. I'm not sure about the style for the map yet so I'll be experimenting over the next couple of days.
In the meantime I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas! Also, I'm really hoping I'll stick to this project for once. I've got way too many abandoned projects around the guild already and I hope this one won't join them.
Cool stuff, Daniel!
As someone who was quite fond of your old map, i can't agree with everything you said about it...but then again, it's your world and map, so who am i to tell you otherwise
I will definitely be looking forward to this new iteration as i already like the landmasses a lot. Keep us posted and as always, if you want to, share some world-building as well.
I'm trapped in Darkness,
Still I reach out for the Stars
Really nice map and , wow that software is absolutely cool , its great to paint north and south poles as usually come out quite stretched.Originally Posted by DanielHasenbos
Those are very appealing land shapes and the coloring is top notch. Great work Daniel !
Thanks Eilathen! I'm happy to hear you like the new map as well. I will make sure to share some world building as I goCool stuff, Daniel!
As someone who was quite fond of your old map, i can't agree with everything you said about it...but then again, it's your world and map, so who am i to tell you otherwise
I will definitely be looking forward to this new iteration as i already like the landmasses a lot. Keep us posted and as always, if you want to, share some world-building as well.
I know, it's really usefull to have those tools when drawing maps.
Thanks Thomas!
It's looking great! Excellent land shapes and satellite style.
Thanks Ilanthar!
So I haven't gotten a lot of this done yet. I been struggling with getting the layout of the map right. I'm also not sure what sort of style I want to go for really, so I'm feeling the urge to get this map started properly anyways. Here's what I've got so far.
Hothachar Poster Map 2.jpg
What I have done in the meantime is put an in-world alphabet together. Sadly, it doesn't look very good and needs a lot of tweaking...
Modern Atyani Font Test.jpg
The top font is one that I actually think works very well. It's hand-drawn Ancient Atyani. The the map I wanted to go for a more roman looking style, so I took the IM FELL fonts and used that as a base for my Modern Atyani font. A couple of letters look completely out of place and for most of them I need to tweak the spacing. But is it any good to begin with at all? Or should I just scrap the new font and use the old one? Or just use the 'real' alphabet?
The world map looks great Daniel and the newer hand drawn version is very promising...Can't wait to see what you do with it.
I think that the two fonts have two types of personalities.
The new, thin font that you made has a scrawly feel, and I feel like a map with that font would belong to a traveler who is hard pressed for time, skill, and resources. He makes quick, notes on the map and is quite messy at times with smudges all over the place.
The other font would belong to a royal cartographer or nobility. The font has a calligraphy that only one with the proper time and skill would be able to acquire. Such a map is expertly made with proper paper, ink and measurements. Thus, the map would be clean with symbols and illustrations.
Either way, I like all the fonts, but I think you should chose based on what personality you want your map to have
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